Fuel types of new cars: diesel -18.2%, petrol +15.2%, electric +30.0% in third quarter of 2018

In the third quarter of 2018, almost 58% of all new passenger cars sold in the EU ran on petrol, while roughly one third was fuelled by diesel

In the third quarter of 2018, almost 58% of all new passenger cars sold in the EU ran on petrol, while roughly one third was fuelled by diesel. All alternatively-powered vehicles (APV) combined accounted for 7.8% of the market, and just 2% of cars registered across the EU during the third quarter of 2018 was electrically-chargeable.

Petrol and diesel cars

Petrol’s market share increased by almost 7 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2017, now accounting for almost 58% of the market. Demand for petrol cars increased in all the EU member states – except Sweden – growing by 15.2% in the region.

At the same time, diesel car sales declined in most of the EU countries except Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. As a result, the share of diesel cars fell from 43.1% to 34.7% of the market compared to the same quarter one year ago.

Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV)

In the third quarter of 2018, demand for alternatively-powered cars in the European Union continued to post strong growth (+29.7%), mostly driven by the strong performance of battery (+37.4%), hybrid (+37.1%) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (+24.5%). Demand for LPG and NGV vehicles also increased – up 11.8% in the third quarter of the year – supported by growth of both natural gas and propane-fuelled cars.

Demand for alternatively-powered vehicles significantly increased in all the major EU markets. APV registrations saw the highest percentage gains in Spain (+62.5%) – thanks to a notable uplift in the LPG and NGV segments – and Germany (+51.4%).